You may be tempted to "save money" by simply buying a library on CD or hard drive and use it to program a Classic Hits format on your own. And, while we feel the additional attention to your station that we provide as part of our service is worth the extra amount, we certainly understand why you'd be tempted.

But those music libraries lack the research you need to determine how often a particular song should play, when songs should be "rested" after shorter periods of play, and which songs by an artist still keep listeners tuned in. All you get is a file to load the title information into your scheduler, on the premise that all songs have equal appeal.

The problem is: THEY AREN'T.

One such library is advertised as providing "1012 hit songs" for $500. We compared their title list to The Eighties Channel™'s fully-researched library and here is what we discovered:

Of those 1012 songs, 43% -- 439 of them -- are from the years 1990 to 1995.

The remaining 57% includes 16 Country songs that never crossed over to CHR.

Another 168 were Adult Contemporary "soft" hits which no longer appeal to the target demographic.

About half (26) of the 50 songs that test the highest in listener research are missing.

Several of the biggest MTV artists -- including Billy Idol, A Flock of Seagulls, Prince, and the Go-Go's -- are completely absent.

There are 14 Madonna songs, but only three test highly positive and are worthy of frequent airplay; the rest should be used sparingly ... but no guidance comes as to which three those are.

Speaking of accents, 186 of the 573 songs from the 1980s should only be used as such ... but they don't tell you which ones.

And we quickly found over 30 titles which test so poorly in listener research, playing them practically invites dial-switching.

As we say in our "white paper" on this subject, when you purchase a fully-researched library with on-going consultation, you don't just get a bunch of songs to put on the air and hope it works. You get the benefit of our on-going format tweaking as the result of continued music testing, and your station always plays exactly the right combination of titles to attract and hold your audience.

The choice is yours: Save money in the short run and set yourself up to fail, or hire our expertise and be prepared to win big. Which will you do?